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SPEECH 


Off 


HON.  GEORGE  W.  SUMMERS, 


OK 


FEDERAL  RELATIONS 


IN  THE 


VIRGINIA  CONVENTION, 


DELIVERED 


MARCH    11,    1861. 


RICHMOND: 

PRINTED  AT  THE  WHIG  BOOK  AND  JOB  OFPICB. 

1861. 


SPEECH. 


Mr.  George  W.  Summers,  of  Kanawha,  having  obtained  the 
floor,  addressed  the  Convention,  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President,  if  there  is  nothing  now  before  the  Convention 
claiming  precedence  in  the  order  of  business,  I  will  move  that 
the  Message  of  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  communi- 
cating the  report  of  the  Commissioners  to  the  late  Peace  Con- 
ference at  Washington,  which  was  laid  on  the  table  a  few  days 
since,  be  now  taken  up.  If  that  motion  shall  be  successful,  I 
propose  to  follow  it  with  a  motion  to  refer  the  message  and  report 
to  the  Committee  on  Federal  Relations,  and,  with  the  consent  of 
the  Convention,  to  submit  some  remarks  in  support  of  that  mo- 
tion. I  move,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  message  and  report  be 
taken  up. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Simmers  continued  : — Mr.  President,  it  was  my  purpose, 
some  days  since,  to  have  submitted  a  motion  for  the  reference 
of  this  report,  but  1  have  had  no  opportunity  of  doing  so.  I 
learned  that  I  could  not  effect  my  purpose,  unless  by  a  previous 
motion  to  lay  on  the  table  the  resolution  offered  by  the  gentle- 
man from  Chesterfield,  (Mr.  Cox,)  and  the  pending  amend- 
ments to  his  proposition,  a  course  which  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty 
to  adopt.  I  think  it  is  due  to  the  Convention  and  to  the  Com- 
mittee, that  the  earliest  possible  opportunity  for  the  consideration 
of  this  report  shall  be  had,  and  that  the  views  of  the  Committee 
upon  it  shall  be  presented  to  the  Convention.  Having  been  one 
of  the  Commissioners  sent  by  Virginia  to  the  Peace  Conference, 
which  seems  to  have  become  the  name  applied  to  the  convoca- 
tion of  States  lately  held  in  Washington,  and  having  had  the 
misfortune  to  differ  on  some  points  with  my  most  respected  and 
esteemed  colleagues,  or  a  portion  of  them,  I  hope  it  will  not  be 
considered  out  of  place  if  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  pre- 
sent, briefly  as  I  may,  the  considerations  and  views  which  in- 
duced me  to  sustain  the  measure  adopted  by  that  Coiiference. 

I  remark,  however,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  were  but  very 
few  votes  taken  upon  any  of  the  propositions  offered  in  the  Con- 


ference  upon  which  there  was  any  diversity  of  opinion  enter- 
tained between  the  Commissioners  from  Virginia.  According 
to  my  recollection  the  first  section  of  the  adjustment  agreed  on, 
in  regard  to  the  Territorial  question,  presented  the  only  occasion 
when  there  was  any  dissenting  opinion  entered  on  the  journal 
by  a  portion  of  the  Commissioners  from  this  State. 

Ex-President  Tyler — Except  in  regard  to  the  second  section, 
upon  which  I  raised  my  own  dissenting  voice. 

Mr.  Summers  resumed.  1  beg  pardon.  I  had  forgotten  that 
the  distinguished  gentleman  from  Charles  City,  (Ex-President 
Tyler,)  my  respected  and  venerable  colleague  in  this  commis- 
sion, had  indicated  his  dissent  upon  the  second  section,  which 
second  section,  however,  received  the  votes  of  the  other  four 
Commissioners  from  Virginia. 

This  adjustment,  Mr.  President,  is  the  result  of  a  procedure 
instituted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Commonwealth,  de- 
siring, with  the  most  patriotic  motives,  to  make  an  earnest  effort 
for  a  settlement  of  the  difficult  and  threatening  questions  now 
dividing  the  country.  I  do  not  propose  to  go  into  details  in  re- 
gard to  the  votings  in  the  Conference.  But  I  propose  to  ad- 
dress myself  for  a  short  time  to  the  adjustment  itself,  remarking, 
however,  in  advance,  that  we  met,  in  the  Conference,  Commis- 
sioners from  twenty-one  States  of  this  Union — seven  of  them 
slaveholding  States  and  fourteen  non-slaveholding  States — and 
that  while  there  was,  to  some  extent,  an  exhibition  of  a  spirit 
and  purpose  adverse  to  the  views  of  the  Southern  States  and 
the  Commissioners  from  Virginia,  yet,  as  a  general  proposition, 
I  was  gratified  to  find  marked  indications  of  a  spirit  of  fraternity 
- — a  general  desire  for  harmony  and  tranquility,  and  an  anxious 
desire  for  the  restoration  and  perpetuity  of  our  Union.  This,  es- 
pecially, manifested  itself,  I  will  take  occasion  to  say,  on  the  part 
of  the  Commissioners  representing  the  border  non-slaveholding 
States.  Going  beyond  that  line,  I  cannot  permit  myself  to  omit 
mentioning  that  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  was  found,  through- 
out all  the  proceedings,  in  entire  harmony  with  the  wishes  and 
purposes  of  those  of  the  Southern  States,  and  active  in  making 
effort  for  a  settlement  and  adjustment  of  these  questions;  that 
the  State  of  New  Jersey,  by  her  entire  delegation,  was  with  us 
throughout,  upon  every  proposition;  that  the  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania,  by  a  large  majority  of  her  delegation,  and  the 
State  of  Ohio,  by  a  like  majority  of  her  Commissioners,  exhi- 
bited the  same  purpose  and  spirit;  and  it  was  a  matter  of  the 
deepest  gratification  and  the  most  hopeful  interest,  that  through- 
out those  labors  and  to  their  close  there  was  manifested  a  grow- 
ing spirit  of  brotherhood,  a  tightening  of  the  bonds  as  it  were, 
between  the  border  States  on  each  side  of  the  line,  including 
Illinois  and  Indiana.     Indiana,  it  is  true,  did  not  vote  upon  the 


final  adoption  of  the  measures  promulgated  by  the  Conference. 
The  Commissioners  from  Indiana  were  instructed,  by  the  reso- 
lutions of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  to  bestow  no  final  vote 
upon  any  proposition,  without  first  reporting  it  to  the  Legisla- 
ture then  in  session,  for  its  concurrence.  Following  out  the  di- 
rection of  her  Legislature,  in  accordance  with  those  restrictive 
resolutions,  Indiana  did  not  cast  her  vote  upon  the  final  action  of 
the  body.  But  Illinois  did,  and  aided  materially  in  their  sup- 
port, on  the  floor,  in  their  advocacy. 

Coming,  then,  Mr.  President,  to  the  result  of  these  labors,  1 
will  first  make  a  single  remark  as  to  a  general  objection  to  the 
whole,  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  Territorial  question  is  concerned; 
an  objection  which  I  have  heard  repeated,  and  which  was 
made  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  that  is,  that  under 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  the  South  is  entitled  to  participation  in  all  the 
Territories  belonging  to  the  people  of  the  United  States;  that  we 
have  equal  right,  from  the  South  as  from  the  North,  to  migrate 
to  any  of  the  Territories  belonging  to  the  United  States,  carry- 
ing with  us  any  species  of  property  known  to  the  laws  of  the 
State  from  which  it  may  be  carried;  and  that  this  right  being 
now  secured  and  recognized  by  the  decision  referred  to,  this  ad- 
justment is  an  abandonment,  on  the  part  of  the  South,  of  the 
right  to  that  portion  of  the  Territory  on  the  North  side  of  the 
line  of  36  deg.  30  min. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  not  been  accustomed  to  regard  the 
South  as  being  entirely  satisfied  to  stand  upon  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  in  this  particular.  Were  that  the  fact,  could  we,  in  our 
own  judgment,  with  safety  now  and  hereafter  stand  upon  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  awarding  equal  right  to  the  people  of  every 
portion  of  the  Union  in  those  Territories,  there  would  be  no  oc- 
casion to  seek  an  adjustment  at  all,  so  far  as  the  Territorial  ques- 
tions are  concerned.  We  all  know,  however,  that  in  certain 
quarters,  that  decision,  beyond  a  given  point,  has  not  been  re- 
garded as  of  binding  authority.  We  have  been  accustomed  in 
the  South  to  apprehend  that,  by  mutations  in  the  composition  of 
the  Court,  that  opinion  may  be  changed;  and  I  think  I  cannot 
err  in  expressing  it  as  the  general  conclusion  of  the  Southern 
mind,  that  a  fair  and  equitable  partition  of  the  Territories  would 
be  the  most  judicious  mode  of  settling  the  question. 

We  went  to  Washington,  Mr.  President,  under  resolutions  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  which  declared  that  the  plan 
of  adjustment  proposed  by  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky, Mr.  Crittenden,  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  this 
Commonwealth.  1  did  not  regard  that  declaration  as  intended 
to  present  the  scheme  of  adjustment  referred  to  in  the  light  of 
an  ultimatum.     I  do  not  know  that  any  of  us  regarded  ourselves 


6 

as  restricted  to  the  Crittenden  propositions,  but  that  these  were 
indicated  by  the  General  Assembly  as  presenting  one  of  the 
modes  of  adjustment  which  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  people 
of  Virginia,  and  that  they  were  suggested  as  the  basis  of  nego- 
tiation at  Washington.  The  adjustment  arrived  at  by  the  Peace 
Conference  divides  all  the  Territory  belonging  to  the  United 
States  by  the  line  of  36  deg.  and  30  min.  of  North  latitude.  If 
it  be  an  objection  to  this  adjustment  that  it  is  a  surrender  of  all 
upon  the  North  side  of  that  line,  it  is  equally  an  objection  to  the 
Crittenden  proposition  which  divides  it  by  the  same  line.  I  ob- 
serve that  one  of  the  distinguished  Senators  from  Virginia  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  made  this  objection;  that  it  was 
a  surrender  of  the  rights  of  the  South  on  the  North  side  of  the 
line  of  36°  30';  and  yet  that  same  distinguished  Senator  himself 
offered  the  first  article  of  the  Crittenden  proposition  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  first  artiele  of  the  adjustment  at  Washington,  and  so 
far  as  the  partition  of  the  Territory  by  a  fixed  line  is  concerned 
both  are  precisely  alike. 

Passing  from  that  objection,  and  insisting  that  we  might  well 
have  thought  ourselves  justified  in  approving  a  fair  partition  of 
the  Territories  by  the  plain  directions  of  the  resolutions  of  the 
General  Assembly  under  which  we  were  commissioned,  I  beg 
leave  to  submit  some  remarks  upon  the  section  itself. 

*         #         #         #         #.        #         #         #         #         $& 

[Mr.  Summers  then  proceeded  to  examine  elaborately  the  vari- 
ous amendments  to  the  Constitution  proposed  by  the  Peace  Con- 
ference, and  to  show  that  these  amendments  covered  every  point 
of  controversy  between  the  South  and  the  North,  connected 
with  the  question  of  slavery,  and  would,  if  adopted,  secure  our 
rights  against  all  aggression,  so  far  as  they  can  be  secured  by 
constitutional  guarantees. 

The  entire  speech  has  been  published  and  extensively  circu- 
lated in  the  newspaper  press.  In  order  to  lessen  the  size  of  the 
pamphlet  edition,  this  minute  analysis  of  the  several  amend- 
ments is  here  omitted.] 

Now,  sir,  having,  as  T  am  very  conscious,  in  an  unsatisfactory 
manner,  examined  the  various  sections  of  which  this  report  is 
composed,  let  me  inquire  what  has  been  obtained  ?  Take  that 
report  of  your  Commissioners  as  it  is,  and  can  it  be  denied  that 
a  very  great  advance  has  been  made  in  securing  the  guarantees 
that  were  desired  in  regard  to  our  rights  under  the  Constitution? 
The  territorial  question  has  been  settled  and  adjusted  by  the 
first  section.  The  territories  are  divided  between  North  and 
South,  and  equality  of  right  secured  and  perpetuated.  I  do  not 
intend  to  add  to  the  remarks  submitted  yesterday  upon  that  sec- 
tion, further  than  to  supply  a  mere  omission  which,  at  the  time, 
did  not  occur  to  my  mind,  and  it  is  this:  to  remind  the  Conven- 


tion  that  the  Territory  of  Arizona,  by  an  act  of  Congress  has 
been  attached  to  and  made  part  and  parcel  of  the  Territory  of 
New  Mexico.  So  that  when  we  speak  of  New  Mexico,  or  the 
New  Mexican  law — when  we  examine  this  first  section,  which 
declares  and  fixes  the  condition  of  persons  held  to  service  on  the 
south  side  of  the  line  of  36°  30^—  we  must  remember,  in  that 
connection,  that  all  the  territory  that  we  now  own  south  of  that 
line,  is  comprehended  and  united  under  one  territorial  govern- 
ment; and  embraced  in  the  same  code,  so  far  as  regards  slavery. 
I  will  not  recapitulate  the  advantages  possessed  and  the  gua- 
rantees presented  by  this  adjustment.  They  are  present  to  the 
memory  and  comprehension  of  all.  The  denial  of  powers  to 
the  General  Government,  contained  in  the  third  section,  are  of 
the  highest  import  and  consequence  to  the  States.  The  equa- 
lity of"  power,  in  the  acquisition  of  territory,  the  concession  of 
perfect  equality  of  power  to  the  unequal  and  weaker  section,  is, 
in  my  opinion,  of  itself  worth  infinitely  more  than  all  the  effort 
which  has  been  made,  a»d  should  be  secured  by  the  most  dili- 
gent endeavor,  and  wilh  any  reasonable  delay  in  time  which 
may  be  necessary  to  procure  it. 

Then  there  are  the  provisions  directed  to  the  reclamation  of 
fugitive  slaves,  and  compensation  for  those  unreclaimed;  and, 
finally,  the  irrepealibility  of  those  guarantees,  and  of  certain  pro- 
visions in  the  Constitution  of  vital  importance  to  the  Southern 
States. 

These  measures,  taken  together,  meet  fully  every  cause  of  ap- 
prehension which  has  heretofore  disturbed  us,  and  close  every 
avenue  of  trouble  and  annoyance,  which  can  be  reached  by 
constitutional  amendments.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they 
are  miles  in  advance  of  any  line  prescribed  by  any  party  in 
Virginia,  six  months  ago.  Sir,  these  amendments  will  remove 
every  difficulty  by  which  we  have  been  surrounded.  They  are 
guarantees  upon  which  the  country  may  repose,  and  with  entire 
security. 

But  it  is  said  that  this  adjustment  has  proved  abortive— that 
this  effort  at  settlement,  initiated  by  Virginia,  has  proved  a  fai- 
lure—because of  the  non-submission  by  Congress  of  those 
measures  for  adoption  bv  the  States. 

Mr.  President,  a  word  on  that  point :  I  am  of  opinion  that 
the  people  of  Virginia  will  not  hold  us  justified  in  taking  any 
action  that  is  to  determine  her  immediate  position,  by  a  failure 
on  the  part  of  the  late  Congress  to  propound  these  measures  of 
the  Peace  Conference  for  the  action  of  the  several  States. 

Sir,  what  are  the  circumstances  attending  those  measures,  and 
the  failure  of  Congress  to  submit  them? 

The  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  which 
looked  to  this  proceeding,  were  passed   on  the  19th  of  January 


8 

last.  Those  resolutions  required  that  the  Commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  herself,  and  those  invited  from  the  other  States, 
should  convene  in  the  City  of  Washington  on  the  4th  day  of  the 
following  February.  Between  the  19th  of  January  and  the  4th 
of  February,  the  propositions  of  Virginia  were  not  sufficiently 
thrown  out,  to  be  acted  upon  in  time  for  all  the  States  to  meet 
us  on  the  day  appointed,  the  4th  of  February.  The  period  was 
short  and  the  notice  was  insufficient. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  the  day  appointed,  Commissioners 
from  eleven  States  appeared,  and  the  Conference  was  organized. 
In  the  course  of  some  days  thereafter,  twenty-one  States  were 
found  assembled — making  a  body  of  some  one  hundred  and 
thirty  members,  by  their  representatives. 

Before  this  body  was  propounded  various  important  and  mate- 
rial amendments  of  your  fundamental  law,  to  be  discussed,  con- 
sidered and  decided,  and  then  to  be  communicated  to  Congress 
with  a  request  that  they  should  be  submitted  to  the  States.  Af- 
ter a  labor  of  some  three  weeks,  this  adjustment  which  I  have 
already  reviewed,  was  agreed  upon.  Its  adoption  occurred 
on  Wednesday,  the  27th  of  February,  and  I  believe  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  it  reached  the  halls  of  Congress.  Now, 
Mr.  President,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  were  but  three 
working  days  left  of  the  congressional  session — Thursday,  Fri- 
day and  Saturday.  Congress  was  to  adjourn  on  Monday,  the 
4th  day  of  March,  when  it  expired.  Remember,  in  connection 
with  this,  that  not  merely  was  there  this  absence  of  time,  but  on 
the  other  hand  there  was  a  fullness  of  business,  as  there  always 
is  at  the  closing  of  Congress,  rendering  it  almost  impossible  to 
take  up  any  new  propositions.  I  need  not  remind  the  members 
of  this  body  how  business  in  a  deliberative  assembly  accumu- 
lates during  the  session  and  settles  down  in  heavy  mass  at  the 
close.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  also,  that  this  proposition,  thus 
agreed  upon  at  so  late  a  period,  came  before  Congress  not  only 
at  the  close  of  the  session,  when  every  member  was  more  or  less 
engaged  with  his  own  particular  measures,  devising  them  either 
for  the  benefit  of  the  country,  or  his  own  personal  benefit  and 
popularity,  and  struggling  to  give  them  precedence;  but  let  it  be 
remembered  further,  that  it  came  in  at  a  time  Avhen  one  admi- 
nistration was  about  retiring  from  power  and  a  new  administra- 
tion, under  most  peculiar  circumstances,  was  about  going  into 
power — that  new  administration,  with  a  party  discordant,  to 
some  extent,  and  having  seminal  causes  of  its  ultimate  dissolu- 
tion already  beginning  to  manifest  themselves.  Let  me  call  to 
mind,  also,  that  these  propositions  were  propounded  to  a  Con- 
gress, not  fresh  from  the  people — elected  two  years  ago  and  more 
— not  familiar  with  the  public  want  and  the  popular  sentiment  as 
it  now  is,  changed  and  modified  as  the  public  sentiment  must  be 


9 

by  the  unprecedented  and  startling  events  which  have  occurred 
since  their  election.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these  circum- 
stances so  adverse  to  a  fair  consideration  of  the  subject,  a  mo- 
tion to  take  up  the  proposed  amendments  in  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives, which  could  only  be  reached  by  a  motion  to  sus- 
pend the  rules  requiring  a  vote  of  two-thirds;  I  say  a  motion  to 
take  up  and  consider  received  a  large  majority  in  its  favor,  and 
though  not  a  two-thirds  vote,  sufficient  to  suspend  the  rule,  in- 
dicated, under  the  circumstances,  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  to  take  up  and  consider  the  proposition. 

I  need  not  recur  to  the  fate  of  this  measure  in  the  Senate,  but 
I  will  say  that  it  wont  do  to  go  home  and  tell  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia that  these  measures  of  the  Peace  Conference  were  not  sub- 
mitted because  alone  of  opposition  from  a  hostile  party  at  the 
North.  These  measures  received  the  opposition,  and  encoun- 
tered the  hostility  of  Southern  as  well  as  of  Northern  Senators. 
I  mean  not  the  slightest  disrespect  to  any  gentleman  bearing  a 
representative  character  from  this  State,  for  whom  I  feel  senti- 
ments of  personal  kindness.  I  do  not  intend  to  designate  gen- 
tlemen by  party  epithets,  but  I  will  say,  without  meaning  of- 
fence to  any,  that  these  measures  met  their  fate  and  received 
their  quietus  in  the  Senate  under  the  combined  hostility  and  as- 
sault of  gentlemen  of  extreme  opinion  from  both  sections  of  the 
country. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  would  advert  in  this  connection  to  some 
facts  tending  still  further  to  show  that  there  is  nothing  to  dis- 
courage us;  that  we  have  not  exhausted  the  remedies  and  expe- 
dients which  lie  before  us;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  we  are 
invited  by  recent  events  to  further  efforts;  that  instead  of  per- 
mitting ourselves  to  despair  of  an  honorable  settlement  of  all 
these  difficulties,  there  is  really  more  ground  for  hope  than  at 
any  period  before.  The  state  of  the  public  mind  of  the  North 
is  more  favorable  to  a  harmonious  settlement  of  sectional  diffi- 
culties than  heretofore.  There  have  been  manifestations  of  this 
more  favorable  proclivity,  recently,  which  should  not  be  over- 
looked. 

You  are  aware,  sir,  that  the  Congress  which  has  just  ad- 
journed, constituted  as  it  was,  submitted  by  the  constitutional 
vote  of  two- thirds  of  each  branch  of  that  body,  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  forbids  any 
amendment  hereafter,  for  the  purpose  of  touching  slavery  in  the 
States,  unless  the  same  be  approved  and  ratified  by  every  State 
in  the  Union.  There,  sir,  is  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
closing  up  this  source  of  apprehension,  and  making  it  impos- 
sible for  Congress,  or  any  less  number  of  the  States  than  the 
whole,  slaveholding  as  well  as  non-slaveholding,  to  disturb  this 
great  interest  of  the  South. 


10 

Our  Constitution  provides  that  when  an  amendment  shall  be 
proposed  in  that  mode,  that  it  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Legisla- 
tures or  to  Conventions  of  the  States,  as  Congress  shall  deter- 
mine. I  do  not  know  whether  the  act  of  Congress,  in  this  case, 
provides  that  the  amendment  referred  to  shall  be  submitted  to 
Conventions,  or  to  the  Legislatures;  but,  if  it  is  to  be  submitted 
to  Conventions,  and  this  amendment  shall  find  its  way  here, 
during  the  sitting  of  this  body,  is  there  any  member  who  will 
not  accept  it  and  vote  for  it?  All  will  be  anxious  to  place  in  the 
Constitution  a  guaranty  declarative  of  the  inviolability  of  those 
rights  in  the  Southern  States. 

Now,  sir,  under  these  circumstances,  is  it  to  be  supposed  by 
any  man  in  this  assembly,  that  the  people  of  Virginia  are  to  be 
content  with  such  an  effort?  Are  the  people  of  Virginia  to  be 
made  to  say,  that  all  constitutional  remedies  and  all  honorable 
expedients  have  been  resorted  to  and  exhausted,  and  that  there 
is  no  relief,  that  they  will  wait  no  more — that  the  day  has  come 
and  the  die  is  cast  ?  No,  Mr.  President,  whatever  may  be  the 
opinion  of  gentlemen  here,  believe  me,  sir,  that  the  constituent 
body  are  not  prepared  to  utter  that  sentiment  and  pronounce 
that  ju.lgment. 

Sir,  I  undertake  to  say,  that  there  never  has  been  a  period  so 
propitious  for  a  procurement  of  all  the  just  rights  of  Virginia 
and  of  her  sister  Southern  States  as  tshe  present.  I  say  that  so 
far  from  being  discouraged  by  anything  that  has  occurred  in  the 
Peace  Conference  or  out  of  it,  I  am  prepared  to  declare  as  my 
own  personal  opinion,  that  never  at  any  past  period  has  there 
been  so  favorable  an  opportunity  and  so  inviting  afield  for  effort 
to  settle  the"se  questions,  and  with  a  prospect  so  encouraging  of 
the  best  results,  as  the  present  period. 

Sir,  when,  at  any  period,  was  the  institution  of  slavery  so 
fully  and  thoroughly  understood  as  now?  It  has  been  exa- 
mined in  all  its  relations,  social,  moral  and  political.  The  politi- 
cal arguments,  the  economical  views  and  the  social  and  moral 
aspects  of  the  institution  have  all  been  explored,  and  I  under- 
take to  say  that  the  institution  of  African  slavery  has  at  this 
moment,  North  and  South,  more  enlightened  support  and  a 
larger  number  of  friends  than  at  any  past  period.  We  have 
them  in  the  North,  and  daily  increasing  in  numerical  strength. 
There  has  been  a  waking  up  in  the  Northern  mind  on  this 
subject.  They  have  not  only  looked  into  it  as  connected  with 
the  preservation  of  the  Union,  but  as  a  thing  in  the  abstract. 
And  how  many  thousands  of  them  now  believe  that  this  insti- 
tution is  not  only  not  sinful,  but  that  it  is  expedient.  They  n) 
longer  look  upon  slavery  in  the  South  as  adverse  to  their 
interests.  In  my  own  opinion,  the  two  systems  of  free  anl 
slave  labor  not  only  are  without  any  necessary  conflict — are  not 


11 

only  entirely  free  of  all  irrepressible  antagonism— but  they  are 
mutually  necessary  to  each  other,  and  reciprocally  beneficial.  I 
state,  as  a  fact  declared  to  myself  personally,  by  members  of  the 
"Peace  Conference"  from  extreme  States  of  the  North,  and  who 
were  themselves  found  voting  against  these  amendments,  that  if 
submitted  to  the  people  of  their  States,  or  if  submitted  to  con- 
ventions of  the  people  of  these  States,  they  would  find  accep- 
tance bv  large  majorities. 

Sir,  I  have  before  me  a  series  of  resolutions  passed  by  con- 
gress, which  were  furnished  me  by  a  member  of  Congress,  with 
his  own  marginal  notes  upon  them  as  they  were  passed,  riie 
adjournment  of  Congress  is  so  recent  that  we  have  not  yet  been 
furnished  with  the' proceedings  of  the  last  session,  and  therefore 
I  am  not  able  to  speak  authoritatively  from  any  examination  of 
the  resolutions  myself  as  to  their  passage  through  both  houses 
of  Congress,  but  1  conclude  from  the  annotations  that  they  have 
passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Government.  The  gentle- 
man who  sent  me  these  resolutions,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
our  own  State,  has  marked  those  which  were  "passed  and 
those  which  were  "  not  voted  on."  I  can  say  with  certainty 
that  these  resolutions  passed  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which  serves  the  only  purpose  I  have  in  referring  to  them,  that 
it  is  the  present  tendency  of  the  public  mind  to  remove  all  causes 
of  irritation,  and  to  observe  constitutional  duties  and  obligations, 
and  as  furnishing  encouragement  to  look  forward  to  a  fair  and 
just  settlement  of  all  these  perplexing  questions.  1  will  read  a 
portion  of  the  resolutions  which  are  marked  "  passed. 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  all 
attempts  on  the  part  of  the  Legislatures  of  any  of  the  States  to 
obstruct  or  hinder  the  recovery  and  surrender  of  fugitives  trom 
service  or  labor  are  in  derogation  of  the  Constitution  of  i the 
United  States,  inconsistent  with  the  comity  and  good  neighbor- 
hood that  should  prevail  among  the  several  States,  and  danger- 
ous to  the  peace  of  the  Union. 

"Resolved,  That  the  several  States  be  respectfully  requested 
to  cause  their  statutes  to  be  revised,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  it 
any  of  them  are  in  conflict  with  or  tend  to  embarrass  or  hinder 
the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  made  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  for  the  delivery  up  of  persons  held  to 
labor  by  the  laws  of  any  State  and  escaping  therefrom;  and  the 
Senate 'and  House  of  Representatives  earnestly  request  that  all 
enactments  having  such  tendency  be  forthwith  repealed,  as  re- 
quired by  a  just  sense  of  constitutional  obligations,  and  by  a 
due  regard  for  the  peace  of  the  Republic;  and  the  President  oi 
the  United  States  is  requested  to  communicate  these  resolutions 


12 

to  the  several  States,  with  a  request  that  they  will  lay  the  same 
before  the  Legislatures  thereof  respectively. 

"Resolved,  That  we  recognize  slavery  as  now  existing  in 
fifteen  of  the  United  States  by  the  usages  and  laws  of  those 
States;  and  we  recognize  no  authority,  legal  or  otherwise,  out- 
side of  a  State  where  it  so  exists,  to  interfere  with  slaves  or 
slavery  in  Bubh  States,  in  disregard  of  the  rights  of  their  owners 
or  the  peace  of  society. 

"Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  justice  and  propriety  of  a 
faithful  execution  of  the  Constitution,  and  laws  made  in  pursu- 
ance thereof,  on  the  subject  of  fugitive  slaves,  or  fugitives  from 
service  or  labor,  and  discountenance  all  mobs  or  hindrances  to 
the  execution  of  such  laws,  and  that  citizens  of  each  State  shall 
be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  States. 

"Resolved,  That  we  recognize  no  such  conflicting  elements 
in  its  composition,  or  sufficient  cause  from  any  source,  for  a 
dissolution  of  this  Government;  that  we  were  not  sent  here  to 
destroy,  but  to  sustain  and  harmonize  the  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  to  see  that  equal  justice  is  done  to  all  parts  of  the 
same;  and  finally  to  perpetuate  its  existence  on  terms  of  equality 
and  justice  to  all  the  Slates. 

"Resolved,  That  each  State  be  also  respectfully  requested  to 
enact  such  laws  as  will  prevent  and  punish  any  attempt, 
whatever,  in  such  State,  to  organize  or  set  on  foot  the  lawless 
invasion  of  any  other  States  or  Territory. " 

You  are  aware,  Mr.  President,  that  we  now  have  a  constitu- 
tional provision  that  fugitives  from  justice  shall  be  demanded  by 
the  Executive  of  the  State  from  which  the  offenders  shall  flee, 
and  shall  be  rendered  up,  &c.  That  constitutional  provision, 
while  it  requires  that  the  claim  for  surrender  shall  be  made  by 
the  Executive  of  the  State  from  which  the  party  flees,  does  not 
provide  upon  what  State  authority  the  demand  shall  be  made. 
The  custom  and  usage  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government, 
I  believe,  has  been,  in  cases  of  that  charcter,  for  the  Executive 
of  one  State  to  make  the  demand  upon  the  Executive  of  the 
other.  I  am  aware  that  many  instances  have  occurred  in  which 
difficulties  have  arisen  upon  demands  of  this  sort  being  made — 
some  from  our  own  State— where  the  Executive  of  the  State 
upon  whom  the  demand  has  been  made,  undertook  to  decide  for 
himself  whether  the  offence  charged  was  an  offence  recognized 
by  the  law  of  the  State  in  which  the  party  had  sought  refuge. 
One  of  the  men  concerned  in  the  Harper's  Ferry  insurrection 
was  demanded,  I  believe,  of  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  and  not  sur- 
rendered. And  there  is  the  recent  case  in  which  a  demand  was 
made  by  Kentucky  upon  the  State  of  Ohio  for  a  party  charged 
with  a  criminal  offence  fleeing  into  that  State;  and  I  believe  I 


13 

am  very  well  warranted  in  saying  that  the  act,  to  which  I  am 
about  to  refer,  grew  out  of  this  very  Ohio  and  Kentucky  case. 
The  Governor  of  Kentucky,  perhaps,  by  the  direction  of  the 
Legislature,  as  to  that  I  am  not  positive,  appointed  counsel  to 
ask  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington, 
a  mandamus  on  the  Governor  of  Ohio  for  the  surrender  of  this 
fugitive  from  justice.  This  case  served  to  draw  the  public  mind 
to  the  question,  and  to  the  want  of  a  proper  law  on  the  subject. 
That  case  has  not  yet  been  disposed  of  by  the  Supreme  Court. 
But  the  opinion  of  "the  profession,  and  which,  I  have  no  doubt, 
will  be  proved  correct  by  the  decision  of  the  Court,  is,  that  the 
Court  has  no  power  to  proceed  against  the  Executive  of  a  State 
by  way  of  mandamus.  If  the  demand  were  made  on  the  Judi- 
cial branch  of  the  Government,  then,  for  refusal  to  act,  or  acting 
erroneously,  the  higher  Court  could  give  relief. 

Well,  to"  meet  such  cases,  the  act  which  I  am  about  to  read, 
was  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  at  its  late  session — 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say  certainly  whether  it  passed  the  Senate. 

11  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  asse?nbled.  That 
every  person  charged,  by  indictment  or  other  satisfactory  evi- 
dence, in  any  State,  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  com- 
mitted within  the  jurisdiction  of  such  State,  who  shall  Hee  or 
shall  have  fled  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall, 
on  the  demand  of  the  Executive  authority  of  the  State  from 
which  he  fled  upon  the  District  Judge  of  the  United  States  of 
the  district  in  which  he  may  be  found,  be  arrested  and  brought 
before  such  judge,  who,  on  being  satisfied  that  he  is  the  person 
charged,  and  that  he  was  within  the  jurisdiction  of  such  State 
at  the  time  such  crime  was  committed,  of  which  sucli  charge 
shall  be  prima  facie  evidence,  shall  deliver  him  up  to  be  re- 
moved to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime;  and  if  any 
question  of  law  shall  arise  during  such  examination,  it  may  be 
taken  on  exceptions  by  writ  of  error  to  the  Circuit  Court. " 

Now,  Mr.  President,  you  see  it  is  here  provided  that,  when  a 
person  charged  with  treason,  felony  or  other  crime,  shall  escape 
from  any  State,  that  the  demand  shall  be  made  by  the  Governor 
of  tho  State  upon  the  District  Judge,  instead  of  the  Executive. 
If  he  fails  to  do  his  duty,  the  mandamus  lies,  as  also  the  writ  of 
error. 

But,  again,  the  Judge  is  cut  off  from  inquiring  into  the  na- 
ture of  \he  offence.  The  whole  scope  of  his  inquiry  is, 
whether  the  party  arrested  and  brought  before  him,  is  the  person 
charged;  and  that  he  was  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State 
demanding  him,  at  the  time  the  offence  was  committed,  and  of 
these  facts  the  charge  itself  is  to  be  prima  facie  evidence,  thus 
throwing  the  burthen  of  disproving  them  on  the  offender. 


14 

This  law  would  have  relieved  us  of  the  difficulties  that  oc- 
curred in  the  Harper's  Ferry  case,  the  Kentucky  case,  and  a 
large  class  of  cases  of  similar  character.  I  adduce  it  as  another 
practical  proof,  to  show  the  tendency  of  the  public  mind.  I 
mention  it  to  show  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  public  sentiment 
to  discourage,  nothing  to  make  us  halt  in  our  exertions;  but  on 
the  other  hand,  that  there  is  everything  to  animate  and  encour- 
age us  in  the  great  work  of  repairing  and  perpetuating  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  President,  it  has  been  urged  that  neither  the  Peace  Con- 
ference adjustment,  the  Crittenden  project,  or  anything  that  we 
were  likely  to  obtain  in  the  way  of  guarantees,  will  induce  our 
sister  States  of  the  South  to  return  to  the  Union,  and  that  Vir- 
ginia ought  to  be  content  with  nothing  short  of  what  will  satisfy 
and  restore  them.  Mr.  President,  we  have  duties  to  perform  to, 
and  for  ourselves.  In  the  performance  of  those  duties  I  am  not 
unmindful  of  the  desire  of  the  country,  of  my  own  ardent  per- 
sonal desire  for  the  restoration  of  those  States  to  their  former 
place  in  the  Union.  But,  sir,  I  am  here  for  one  to  declare  my 
opinion  that,  whatever  in  the  way  of  guarantees,  whatever  set- 
tlement of  these  vexed  questions  shall  be  found  satisfactory  to 
the  slave  States  still  remaining  in  the  Union;  whatever  shall  be 
found'acceptable  to  them  and  sufficient  to  secure  their  rights, 
ought,  a  fortiori ,  to  be  acceptable  to  the  seceded  sister  States  of 
the  South.  Sir,  we  have  infinitely  more  interest  in  all  the  per- 
plexing questions  which  have  arisen  connected  with  slavery, 
than  they  have,  or  ever  can  possibly  have.  In  regard  to  the  fu- 
gitive slave  law,  it  is  certain  we  are  much  more  deeply  interested 
than  they  are — they  lose  exceedingly  few  slaves  by  escape,  none 
in  comparison  with  the  number  lost  by  the  border  States.  They 
are  hedged  and  surrounded  by  slave  States,  interposed  between 
them  and  the  free  States,  so  that  their  slaves  cannot  escape,  ex- 
cept in  rare  instances  by  vessels. 

Again:  What  interest,  compared  with  ours,  have  the  cotton 
States  in  the  territorial  question?  Do  they  furnish  any  popula- 
tion for  the  settlement  of  the  Territories?  Is  there  a  man  from 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Mississippi  or  Alabama, 
who  would  leave  the  fertile  fields  of  the  South,  to  migrate  with 
his  negroes  into  Arizona  or  New  Mexico?  What  possible  in- 
ducement can  exist  for  the  removal  of  slave  labor  from  the  cot- 
ton and  sugar  plantations  of  the  Southern  States,  where  it  is  so 
profitable,  to  any  of  the  Territories  now  owned  by  the  United 
States?  Practically,  the  border  States  have  more  interest  in  the 
territorial  question  than  they  can  have.  The  slave  migration  to 
Territories,  so  far  as  there  is  any,  will  be  from  the  border  States, 
and  not  from  the  cotton  States. 

In  all  these  questions,  we  have  the  larger  interest.     Nor  am  I 


15 

prepared  to  admit  that  in  their  settlement  they  have  any  right  to 
claim  a  higher  standard  of  honor,  or  nicer  appreciation  of  right, 
than  ourselves.  I  will  not  anticipate  that  in  the  event  the  border 
slave  States  shall  obtain  guarantees  satisfactory  to  themselves, 
that  they  will  not  prove  equally  satisfactory  to  the  more  Southern 
States.  Should  these  States  refuse  to  return  upon  a  proper  settle- 
ment of  our  difficulties,  such  a  settlement  as  shall  be  satisfactory 
to  Virginia,  and  the  other  slave  States  yet  remaining  in  the 
Union,  such  refusal  would  furnish  strong  evidence  that  they  left 
us,  not  on  the  ground  of  the  slavery  issues  and  difficulties,  but 
for  other  causes,  and  upon  a  foregone  conclusion.  I  delight,  as 
much  as  any  one,  to  anticipate  the  hour  when  these  States  shall 
come  back  to  us.  An  apprehension  was  expressed  from  a  cer- 
tain quarter,  in  the  discussions  at  Washington,  that  the  seceded 
States  might,  while  out  of  the  Union,  acquire  by  treaty,  or 
otherwise,  large  portions  of  Mexico,  and  that  there  might  be 
difficulty  in  receiving  them  with  their  new  accessions.  I  took 
occasion  then  to  repel  the  ungenerous  imputation,  and  expressed 
the  opinion  that  let  these  States  come  back  when  they  would, 
and  whether  they  should  return  as  the  prodigal  son  came,  bereft 
of  all  the  fortune  that  he  carried  from  his  home,  or  come  back 
laden  with  empires  and  kingdoms  for  their  dowry,  they  would 
be  received  with  open  arms  and  joyous  hearts  by  the  American 
people.  And  so  they  will  be — and  they  will  come.  We  belong 
to  the  same  race.  We  cannot  long  be  separated.  There  is  at 
this  moment  a  large  amount  of  conservative  sentiment  in  every 
one  of  these  States,  more  or  less  repressed  for  the  moment. 
There  is  a  love  of  the  old  Union,  lingering  in  many  hearts. 
Eyes  are  yet  turned  with  pride  and  admiration  to  the  stars  and 
stripes — to  the  flag  which  has  been  borne  so  gallantly  on  many 
a  field,  and  which  has  floated  in  triumph  on  lake  and  ocean. 
Settle  and  adjust  these  questions  and  relieve  that  pressure. 
You  will  then  see,  sir,  the  old  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  Union 
retoning  itself.  You  will  see  that  progress  accelerated,  and  in 
time,  we  cannot  say  within  what  time;  time  is  the  great  healer 
of  wounds,  whether  mental,  physical  or  political;  time  will  give 
the  people  control  of  the  politicians  and  they  will  return — we 
shall  again  be  a  united  people. 

Mr.  President,  in  God's  name,  what  are  we  to  gain  by  chang- 
ing our  position?  I  am  here  as  one  of  this  family  council.  I 
am  here  to  speak  my  mind  as  a  free  man  and  as  a  representative 
of  free  men  ought  to  speak  it,  in  kindness  and  brotherly  love, 
and  at  the  same  time  with  boldness  and  candor.  We  have  been 
brought  here  for  communion  and  for  consultation.  We  are  here 
deliberating  upon  the  question  whether  we  shall  pass  an  ordi- 
nance  taking  this   old   Commonwealth   out  of  the   Union  or 


16 

whether  we  shall  make  further  efforts  to  restore  and  perpetuate 
this  Union. 

What  are  we  to  gain  by  secession,  what  can  we  gain  by  sepa- 
rate action  on  the  part  of  this  Commonwealth?  In  regard  to 
any  one  of  the  questions  embraced  in  the  whole  scope  of  our 
difficulties,  what  do  we  gain  by  such  a  step?  What  do 
you  gain  on  the  territorial  question?  The  entire  abandon- 
ment of  all  connection  with  an  control  over  them.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  our  people  now  only  as  a  question  of  right — more  so 
in  that  aspect  than  as  a  practical  question  of  value;  but  as  a 
question  of  right  I  would  settle  it  fairly,  justly  and  forever.  On 
that  question  are  you  determined  to  lose  everything? 

On  the  question  of  our  absconding  slave  population,  what  do 
you  again?  You  exchange  the  constitutional  provision  which 
requires  the  rendition  of  fugitives  from  service,  the  laws  of 
Congress  to  enforce  it,  and  the  amendment  now  proposed  for  the 
payment  in  full  of  unreclaimed  and  lost  slaves — you  exchange 
all  these  provisions  and  guarantees  securing  you  in  your  rights, 
for  the  mere  chance  of  treaty  stipulations,  after  we  shall  have 
divided  on  the  slave  line,  and  after  sovereign  and  independent 
nations  shall  have  taken  the  place  of  confederated  States.  How 
are  you  to  treat  with  them  upon  the  question,?  Can  you  treat 
with  England?  It  was  tried  in  the  Webster-Ashburton  treaty. 
Have  you  ever  been  able  to  open  to  the  English  mind  the  con- 
ception of  an  arrangement  for  the  rendition  of  fugitives  from 
Canada?  Not  at  all.  And  across  the  Ohio  rjver  you  would 
substitute  for  these  confederated  States,  not  Canada  merely,  but 
States  once  in  communion  with  us  thrown  off  and  converted 
possibly  into  worse  than  a  hostile  Canda.  That  is  what  you 
would  gain  upon  the  fugitive  slave  law.  And  what  do  you  gain 
in  any  particular  as  to  this  institution,  in  which  we  are  so  much 
concerned — the  institution  of  slavery,  which  is,  and  ought  to 
be,  a  great  and  vital  interest  in  this  Commonwealth — an  institu- 
tion which,  I  am  prepared  to  say,  is  founded  not  only  in  social 
and  economical  expediency,  but  is  the  best  of  all  positions  for 
the  African  himself — an  institution  morally,  socially  and  politi- 
cally right — what  do  you  gain  for  that  institution,  I  say,  by  sun- 
dering this  connection  ?  Instead  of  a  Commonwealth  in  the 
centre  *of  a  great  confederacy,  made  up  of  slaveholding  and 
non-slaveholding  States,  with  constitutional  and  statutory  pro- 
visions for  your  safety  and  security,  you  exchange  that  position 
for  a  border  attitude  along  the  line  of  States,  no  longer  con- 
nected with  you,  not  participating  in  that  institution,  but  be- 
coming possibly,  by  your  own  act,  more  hostile  to  it  than  ever. 
You  abandon  all  the  guarantees  which  you  now  have  under  the 
Constitution,  and  all  which  are  proposed  to  be  added,  for  the 


17 

uncertain  chances  of  an  arrangement  between  foreign  govern- 
ments. 

Mr.  President,  1  remarked  awhile  ago  that  it  was  better  to  pro- 
tect slavery  in  Western  Virginia  than  in  New  Mexico;  better  to 
legislate  for  the  encouragement  of  that  institution  upon  your  own 
borders  than  elsewhere.  If  you  do  not  afford  such  protection, 
what  is  the  condition  of  Western  Virginia  in  regard  to  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery?  Do  you  not  perceive  that  the  institution  at 
once  becomes  worthless  to  us?  In  my  region  of  the  State,  bor- 
dering upon  the  Ohio  river,  can  you  hold  slaves  at  all  after  sepa- 
ration ?  I  come  from  a  county  which,  by  the  census  of  1S50 — the 
census  of  1860  1  have  not  yet  seen — contained  some  3,000  slaves. 
I  come  from  a  region  of  country  constituting — permit  me  to  say  in 
passing — as  lovely  a  portion  of  this  green  earth,  as  perhaps  lies 
within  the  limits  of  this  Union — I  mean  the  fertile  and  beautiful 
valley  watered  by  the  Kanawha,  abounding  in  all  the  material 
resources  of  wealth,  commerce  and  power.  A  country  abound- 
ing in  agricultural,  mineral  and  commercial  facilities  and  mate- 
rial. I  come  from  the  region  of  the  great  coal  fields,  the  great 
salt  deposits,  and  the  oil  wells  and  mills  now  furnishing  light 
and  lubrication  for  the  whole  land.  Look  at  my  neighbors  of 
the  upper  Kanawha,  eighty  miles  north  of  me — a  valley  filled 
with  enterprise,  with  capital  and  adventure — rivaling  in  activity  of 
speculation  and  hope  of  fortune,  the  scenes  of  Pike's  Peak  a  lew 
years  ago.  Look,  also,  at  the  Wheeling  region;  its  rich  deposits 
of  coal  and  its  extensive  manufactories.  Look  at  the  region  re- 
presented in  part  by  my  friend  from  Monongalia,  (Mr.  Willey,) 
watered  by  streams  running  to  Pittsburg — the  head  springs  of 
the  Ohio — his  Pennsylvania  neighbors  within  twelve  miles  of 
his  own  residence,  in  the  charming  village  of  Morgan  town. 
What,  I  ask  you,  is  to  be  the  condition  of  this  great  portion  of 
the  State.  Starting  from  the  mouth  of  the  Sandy  River,  which 
divides  us  from  Kentucky,  tracing  a  line  by  the  Ohio  to  the  up- 
per end  "of  the  Pan  Handle,  and  then  passing  along  the  Penn- 
sylvania boundary,  you  have  about  four  hundred  miles  of  free 
State  border. 

Now,  sir,  as  one  of  the  citizens  of  this  community,  as  a  pro- 
perty-holder in  Western  Virginia,  I  protest,  for  myself,  and  on 
behalf  of  my  constituents  in  like  condition,  against  changing  its 
political  and  governmental  relations.  Give  us  peace;  give  us 
guarantees  such  as  are  now  offered  and  which  we  can  get;  in- 
vite and  encourage  us  to  our  coal  mines,  salt  wells  and  iron  fur- 
naces— to  the  oil  mills  and  oil  springs — the  work-shops  and 
manufactories — to  the  cultivation  of  our  fertile  fields,  and  the 
care  of  our  lowing  herds — that  is  what  we  desire.  Dismember 
this  Republic,  and  where  will  you  place  us?  You  cut  off  a  large 
mass  of  our  labor,  no  longer  to  be  retained  among  us,  and  sub- 
2 


18 

ject  every  product  of  our  industry,  whether  of  the  mine,  the 
forest,  the  field  or  the  shop,  to  the  burdens  of  protective  and  pro- 
hibitory tariffs,  in  the  Union  which  we  shall  have  left.  The  free 
States  contain  some  eighteen  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  consti- 
tute the  chief  market  for  all  our  surplus;  they  can  place  no  tariff 
on  us  under  the  Constitution;  but,  as  a  separate  government, 
would  protect  their  own  industry  and  their  own  productions,  to 
the  injury  and  exclusion  of  ours.  At  the  same  time,  by  the  ta- 
riff act  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  recently  passed,  all  pro- 
visions for  consumption  are  admitted,  duty  free;  and,  so  far  as 
the  Southern  market  is  concerned,  the  cattle,  flour,  wheat,  corn, 
and  other  provisions  supplied  by  Virginia,  would  be  left  to  com- 
petition with  the  great  producing  regions  of  the  Western  and  the 
North  Western  States.  Are  we  to  be  placed  in  this  predica- 
ment? 

These  remarks,  both  as  to  slave  labor  and  our  surplus  produc- 
tions, are  applicable  to  the  whole  State  in  greater  or  less  degree. 
Here  is  our  northern  border — the  Potomac  line — separated  from 
the  free  States  only  by  the  narrow  interposition  of  Maryland. 
Your  whole  sea  cost  is  all  to  be  opened  up,  and  we  are  to  be- 
come, to  use  a  homely  phrase,  the  outside  row  in  the  corn  field. 
We  are  to  protect  slave  property  in  States  south  of  us,  but  to 
Jose  our  own.  So  far  from  secession  rendering  the  institution  of 
slavery  more  secure  in  Virginia,  it  will  be  the  potent  cause  of 
insecurity.  Slave  property  cannot  be  retained  in  that  position  of 
affairs;  it  will  diminish  instead  of  increase.  We  shall  find  this 
diminution  encroaching  first  upon  the  counties  of  the  north-west, 
then  on  the  central  west,  compelling  us  to  sell  our  slaves  or 
permit  them  gratuitously  to  run  away,  disabling  us  from  holding 
them  and  rendering  them  worthless;  that  border  widening  and 
encroaching  upon  you  in  the  centre,  stretching  to  the  east, 
until  at  last,  in  all  human  probability,  by  such  separation,  Vir- 
ginia herself  in  the  course  of  time,  perhaps  not  far  distant,  will 
be  placed  in  the  attitude,  if  not  of  a  non-slaveholding  State,  at 
least  slaveholding  so  partially  as  not  to  be  regarded  by  her  sister 
States  of  the  South  as  any  better  than  a  Yankee  appendage.  I 
believe  that  the  sundering  and  dismembering  of  the  Union  is 
the  signal  not  only  of  vast  injury  to  the  slave  institutions  of  the 
country,  but  possibly  of  its  extinction  in  Virginia.  God  forbid 
that  such  results  should  follow.  I  fear  them — I  point  you  to  the 
natural  effects  of  causes. 

But,  Mr.  President,  not  only  are  our  most  material  interests  to 
be  thus  affected  by  this  remedy  of  secession,  but  in  other 
aspects  the  consequences  are  not  less  worthy  of  consideration. 

Europe  is  divided  into  numerous  separate  nationalities,  bound- 
ing each  other.  Frowning  fortresses,  bastions,  embrasures  and 
all  the  preparations  and  muniments  of  Avar  and  standing  armies 


19 

constitute  a  necessity  of  the  European  system.  Now,  in  the 
United  States  we  have  heretofore  had  no  occasion  for  apprehen- 
sion from  internal  disasters  and  outbreaks.  Our  geographical 
position  at  the  same  time,  has  given  safety  from  invasion  from 
abroad.  But,  sir,  when  you  shall  divide  this  country  by  the 
slave  line — a  line  of  2,000  miles  between  the  slave  and  the  free 
States — you  at  once  perceive  that  you  are  immediately  remitted 
to  the  European  status.  The  same  causes  which  bring  about 
standing  armies  and  preparations  for  defence  and  war  there  will 
bring  them  about  here.  We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
in  five  years  time  after  a  permanent  dismemberment  of  this 
Union  there  will  be  a  standing  army  of  at  least  100,000  men  on 
each  side  of  the  line.  It  will  be  the  only  mode  of  safety  for 
either.  It  would  only  be  the  fear  of  each  other  that  would  keep 
the  peace.  It  is  only  that  which  keeps  the  peace  in  Europe 
now;  it  would  be  only  that  which  would  keep  the  peace  here. 
As  one  section  enlarged  its  army  and  navy,  the  other  would  find 
it  necessary  to  make  a  corresponding  increase — precisely  as  you 
find  England  and  France  watching  each  other;  and  increasing 
their  military  and  naval  forces  pari  passu. 

I  will  not  go  into  an  examination  of  the  expenditures  neces- 
sary to  support  and  maintain  the  new  government,  with  its  army 
and  navy.  That  these  would  be  vastly  augmented  none  can 
doubt.  The  increase  of  expense  would  be  brought  upon  our 
people,  with  diminished  means  and  capacity,  on  their  part,  to 
meet  and  discharge  it. 

I  might  advert  to  our  constant  liability,  after  separation,  to 
border  raids  and  invasions;  the  worst  population  on  either  side 
the  line  having  it  in  their  power  to  bring  the  two  sections  into 
strife  at  any  time. 

I  regard  secession,  then,  so  far  from  being  a  remedy  for  the 
evils  of  which  we  complain,  as  an  aggravation  of  them  all,  and 
as  introducing  and  fastening  upon  us,  new  mischiefs,  of  the 
most  injurious,  if  not  fatal  character. 

Mr  President,  we  talk  about  passing  an  Ordinance  of  Seces- 
sion here,  an  ordinance  for  the  immediate  and  separate  secession 
of  Virginia,  in  the  condition  of  the  public  mind  of  the  people  of 
this  State!  Where  would  be  the  wisdom,  the  prudence  of  such 
a  measure,  if  there  was  a  majority  in  this  Convention  favorable 
to  it? 

With  the  known  thought  and  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, I  cannot,  believe  that  this  Convention  would,  if  it  could, 
pass  an  ordinance  of  secession,  and  send  it  out  to  be  voted  down 
by  a  larger  majority  than  that  which  registered  itself  in  favor  of 
a  reference  of  the  action  of  this  Convention  to  a  vote  of  the  peo- 
ple, for  ratification  or  rejection.  The  people  of  Virginia  do  not 
intend  to  accept  and  ratify  an  ordinance  of  secession  until  every 


20 

effort  has  been  exhausted  to  avoid  it;  until  Virginia  has  per- 
formed her  duty  and  her  whole  dnty  to  herself  and  to  the  people 
of  this  country.  If  we  pass  this  ordinance  of  secession  before 
the  consummation  and  exhaustion  of  all  those  efforts,  and  the 
performance  of  this  whole  duty,  we  shall  send  it  forth  only 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  the  waves  of  popular  disapprobation  and 
indignation;  to  be  buried  so  deep  in  the  ocean  that  not  even  a 
bubble  will  arise  to  the  surface  to  point  the  place  where  it  went 
down. 

Go  on  with  your  patriotic  endeavors — make  these  efforts  ho- 
nestly, hopefully,  fully  and  to  the  last,  and  when  all  has  been  ex- 
hausted, and  when  the  people  of  Virginia,  as  an  enlightened  and 
considerate  people  as  they  are,  shall  be  satisfied  in  their  heart  of 
hearts,  that  there  is  no  alternative,  that  we  cannot  and  ought  not 
to  remain  longer  with  the  States  to  which  we  are  now  connected, 
then,  Mr.  President,  and  then  only,  the  Commonwealth  as  a 
Commonwealth  ought  to  speak  and  act  will  be  united  from 
centre  to  circumference — united  from  the  Roanoke  to  the  Poto- 
mac, from  the  sea-shore  to  the  Ohio. 

Sir,  I  warn  you — I  warn  you  as  a  Virginian — I  warn  you  as 
a  friend  and  brother,  not  to  throw  a  fire-brand  among  the  people 
of  this  Commonwealth.  I  speak  freely;  I  speak  as  one  of  this 
family  circle.  I  claim  to  have  as  large,  as  permanent,  and  as 
abiding  a  love  and  interest  in  this  Commonwealth  as  any  here. 
You  shall  not  claim  a  higher  niche  for  the  glory  and  honor  of 
Virginia  than  I  claim.  I  love  her  as  a  child  ought  to  love  a  mo- 
ther; I  never  entertained  a  sentiment  at  war  with  the  loyalty  of 
a  Virginian,  or  adverse  to  her  peace,  her  interests  or  her  glory. 
If  I  know  my  own  heart — man  sometimes  is  mistaken  in  himself 
— but  if  I  know  the  sentiments  of  my  own  bosom,  I  would  this 
moment,  for  the  peace  and  honor,  safety  and  glory  of  this  old 
Commonwealth  of  ours,  lay  down  this  poor  and  worthless  life  as 
a  cheap  sacrifice  for  such  a  good. 

But  I  am  here  to  demand  and  protect  the  rights  of  my  people. 
I  came  here  to  speak  as  a  free  man,  to  deliberate  as  such;  aye, 
and  to  deliberate  and  to  speak  boldly,  uninfluenced  by  all  and 
every  extreme  of  pressure  whether  from  within  or  without. 

When  gentlemen  talk  of  passing  an  ordinance  of  secession, 
what  do  they  mean  ?  Have  gentlemen  adverted  to  our  position? 
Have  gentlemen,  I  say,  adverted  to  our  position  and  our  sur- 
roundings? You  ask  to  take  Virginia  out  of  the  Union  by  an 
ordinance  of  immediate  and  separate  secession.  I  am  here,  sir, 
as  one  of  her  sons  to  protest  against  that  course.  Where  is  Vir- 
ginia, and  what  are  her  duties?  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention, 
bear  with  me  for  a  moment  while  I  refer  to  this  subject.  Where 
are  yon?  Here  lies  Maryland  in  your  lap — lying  on  your  lap 
for  safety  and   protection.     Maryland,   within  whose  limits  is 


21 

situated  the  capital  of  this  nation — Maryland  has  not  even  called 
a  convention  or  a  legislature — which  has  yet  made  no  move 
towards  a  consideration  of  this  question;  and  yet  her  fate, 
instantly  and  forever,  is  to  be  settled  by  the  movements  of  Vir- 
ginia. You  cannot  make  a  move  in  the  way  of  secession  in 
Virginia  without  precipitating  Maryland.  I  know  it;  you  can- 
not do  it.  Maryland,  connected  to  you  by  every  tie  that  can 
connect  one  State  with  another;  by  all  our  common  rights  and 
interest  in  the  Potomac  and  the  Chesapeake — by  her  magnifi- 
cent rail  road,  terminating  at  two  points  within  your  territory — 
Wheeling  and  Parkersburg — traversing  the  whole  extent"  of 
your  Northern  and  North-western  borders — will  you  go  out  by 
separate  State  action  without  consulting  Maryland,  thereby  pre- 
cipitating her  into  the  most  painful  and  difficult  position  in 
which  a  State  can  be  placed,  putting  her  into  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  Government  with  all  the  power  of  that  Government 
upon  her. 

But  again,  sir,  where  is  the  Old  North  State,  the  land  of  Na- 
thaniel Macon,  typical  as  he  was  of  North  Carolina:  slow  but 
wise,  hard  to  come  up  to  the  mark  it  may  be,  but  firm  and  un- 
appeasable when  she  does  come — where  is  North  Carolina? 

V\  hy,  Mr.  President,  if  you  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession, 
you  cannot  get  to  the  Southern  Confederacy  unless  North  Caro- 
lina goes  with  you,  for  she  lies  between  you  and  Georgia. 
There  is  evidently  no  disposition  on  her  part  to  secede.  A  ma- 
jority of  her  votes  have  been  cast  against  a  Convention.  She 
refuses  even  to  call  a  Convention  to  consider  the  question  of 
secession,  resting  calmly  upon  her  dignity  and  upon  her  rights. 
And  then,  what  do  you  say  of  Tennessee — glorious  Tennes- 
see, daughter  of  North  Carolina,  which  borders  your  territory 
and  receives  from  you  the  waters  of  the  Clinch  and  the  Holston"? 
You  know  the  character  and  sentiments  of  her  people,  true, 
brave  and  loyal;  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  the  truest  of  the  true. 
She  has  called  no  Convention,  taken  no  measure  or  movement, 
laying  quietly,  biding  her  time,  ratifying  by  her  vote  in  the 
Peace  Conference  the  acceptability," the  entire  acceptability  of 
that  scheme  and  guaranty. 

And  then  comes  your  noble  and  glorious  daughter  Kentucky, 
the  first-born  of  Virginia.  I  come  from  the  Kentucky  border 
country.  Indissolubly  connected  as  we  are  with  our  Kentucky 
friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  Sandy  River  and  with  Western 
Virginia,  holding  the  same  rights  and  the  same  interests  in  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi. 

Kentucky  holds  some  six  hundred  miles  of  Ohio  front,  with 
the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  all  lying  across  the 
stream,  in  full  view  of  her.  Do  you  mean  to  precipitate  your- 
selves out  of  the  Union  without  considering  or  inquiring  what 


22 

effect  that  movement  is  to  produce  upon  Kentucky?  13 o  you 
contemplate  such  a  step  without  conferring  with  your  other  sis- 
ters of  the  border,  who  are  equally  interested  with  you  in  the 
result?  Will  you  go  out  without  consulting  Maryland,  North 
Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky — all  connected  with  us,  hound 
up  in  our  fate,  affected  necessarily  by  our  act  of  secession?  Do 
you  mean  to  take  a  jump  outside  the  magic  circle  which  now 
encloses  us,  without  taking  counsel  with  those  whose  fate  is  in- 
timately connected  with  yours,  and  whose  destiny  for  good  or 
evil  would  probably  be  consummated  by  your  act? 

Why,  sir,  we  hear  the  argument  advanced  continually,  that 
whatever  Virginia  does,  the  other  States  will  do.  Mr.  President, 
have  we  come  to  this?  Are  we  to  assume  before  the  world,  and 
put  forth  as  our  justification,  the  idea  that  Virginia  can  properly 
go  out  of  the  Union  in  her  present  position,  without  arrange- 
ment or  consultation  with  her  surrounding  sisters,  upon  the  the- 
ory that  so  commanding  is  her  attitude  and  her  influence,  that 
these  other  States  will  be  compelled  to  follow  where  she  leads? 
This  is  not  an  argument  upon  which  Virginia  can  stand.  It  is 
not  worthy  her  ancient  fame,  or  her  yet  unsullied  justice  and 
magnanimity. 

Sir,  we  are  constantly  expressing  ourselves  and  in  strong 
terms  against  coercion.  We  are  all  against  coercion.  We  are 
pledging  ourselves  against  the  policy  of  coercion.  Yes,  sir, 
and  rightly;  and  yet,  in  the  same  breath,  shall  we  ourselves 
coerce?  You  will  not  let  President  Lincoln  or  the  Federal 
Government  coerce  any  of  the  Southern  States.  You  announce 
yourselves  as  utterly  determined  to  resist  this  policy,  and  yet 
you  take  a  course  towards  your  sister  States,  that  have  not 
offended  you,  who  are  relying  upon  you,  who  are  hugged  up, 
as  it  were,  in  your  arms  and  sitting  upon  your  lap,  which  will 
inevitably  coerce  them  into  a  system  which  they  would  not 
willingly  adopt.  You  are  forcing  them  to  change  their  position, 
and  encounter  all  the  perils  of  the  change,  whether  they  will  or 
no.  By  your  own  leap  into  the  abyss,  you  are  compelling  those 
States  to  follow,  with  a  boast  before  hand,  that  they  are  obliged 
to  take  the  plunge  if  we  do. 

What  is  the  difference  between  moral  and  physical  coercion, 
in  the  result  which  is  to  be  brought  about?  What  is  the 
difference  between  knocking  a  man  in  the  river,  by  a  blow,  or 
compelling  him,  by  causes  which  you  can  control  and  which  he 
cannot  escape,  to  jump  in  himself?  Sir,  the  people  of  Virginia 
will  not  tolerate  such  a  policy  towards  the  Slates  I  have  referred 
to.  Here  is  Missouri,  more  distant  from  us,  now  in  Convention. 
Arkansas  is  now  in  Convention.  Both  these  States  will,  in  all 
probability,  propose  and  recommend  a  border  slave  State  con- 
ference. 


23 

There  is  another  State  which  J  will  not  forget,  for  I  have  had 
recent  occasion  to  be  renewedly  impressed  with  admiration  for 
that  little  State.  I  will  not  forget  the  gallant,  noble  little  Dela- 
ware. With  only  some  eighteen  hundred  slaves  within  her 
borders,  she  is  true  and  faithful  to  the  rights  of  the  South — as 
true  to  the  guarantees  and  obligations  of  the  Constitution  as  her 
proud  soldiery  were  brave  and  intrepid  in  the  days  which  tried 
men's  souls,  and  when,  by  their  gallantry,  they  obtained  the 
subriqiiet  of  the  "Blue  Hen's  Chicken."  Is  Delaware  to  be 
consulted,  or  left  to  take  care  of  herself?  Will  Virginia,  the 
elder  sister,  in  a  moment  of  madness,  break  away  from  the  re- 
maining members  of  the  family  without  consulting  their  wishes, 
without  taking  leave,  or  even  telling  them  where  she  is  going? 
No.  sir;  when  the  people  of  Virginia  shall  ultimately  be  brought 
to  decide  what  shall  he  necessary  for  them,  they  will  do  so  with 
a  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  those  States  which  are  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  her  in  interest  and  sympathy. 

Sir,  go  home  to  your  constituents,  after  having  passed  an  ordi- 
nance of  secession,  and  tell  them  that  you  have  passed  it  be- 
cause you  tried  to  get  guarantees  and  foiled.  They  will  ask  you 
what  trial  and  effort  has  been  made?  Why,  we  obtained  in  the 
l£  Peace  Conference"  guarantees  on  ail  the  points  of  contro- 
versy, but  Congress  refused  to  submit  them  as  amendments  to 
the  Constitution,  to  be  acted  upon  in  the  States  and  incorpo- 
rated into  that  instrument,  and  the  4th  of  March  is  passed,  and 
we  thought  we  would  not  stay  under  Lincoln's  administration. 

Do  you  suppose  the  people  would  accept  and  approve  your  re- 
port and  ratify  that  ordinance  of  secession?  No,  they  would  tell 
you  that  you  had  not  acted  upon  the  high  and  patriotic  policy 
purs  wed  by  your  fathers.  Our  fathers  did  not  find  that  a  great 
constitutional  government  could  be  built  up  in  a  day.  Nor  is  a 
broken  government  to  be  repaired  and  reconstructed  in  a  day. 
The  fathers  of  the  republic  depended  on  patient,  persevering, 
honest,  patriotic  labor  to  the  last,  and  with  God's  blessing  upon 
these  labors,  success  crowned  their  endeavors. 

I  tell  you,  that  our  people  will  require  a  like  honest  and  faith- 
ful effort — persistent  assiduous  effort.  Make  up  and  present  to 
the  people  the  issue,  whether  the  Union  is  to  be  dissolved,  if  the 
guarantees  proposed  can  be  obtained,  and  one  mighty  negative 
would  be  heard  throughout  the  Commonwealth.  These  guar- 
antees can  and  will  be  obtained,  and  let  the  politicians  say  as 
they  please  of  them,  they  are  ample,  and  cover  every  point  of 
controversy. 

But  we  are  told  that  something  must  be  done  immediately — 
that  we  have  a  new  administration — we  don't  know  what  mis- 
chief that  administration  may  perpetrate,  and  that  we  must  re- 
sume our  original  rights. 


24 

Mr.  President,  I  confess,  for  one,  that,  as  a  Virginian,  I  am 
not  willing  to  see  her  driven  and  impelled  into  any  course, 
which  otherwise  she  ought  not  to  take,  by  fear  of  any  man  or 
any  set  of  men.  She  is  not  to  be  dragooned,  either  by  fear  of 
the  Federal  Government  or  affection  for  the  Confederated  States. 

We  are  asked  if  we  are  willing  to  submit  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 
'We  submit  to  the  Constitution  and  the  law,  but  not  to  tyranny 
and  oppression — when  these  come  we  shall  be  ready  for  rebel- 
lion and  revolution.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  submissionist,  not 
us.  He  is,  at  this  moment,  submitting  to  the  noble  position  of 
the  border  States.  He  is  submitting  to  the  exigencies  of  his 
own  position. 

I  have  nothing  to  say  of  the  Inaugural  Address,  which  has 
been  so  much  commented  on.  My  course  cannot  be  governed 
by  any  expression  of  opinion,  or  any  programme  of  measures, 
which  must  depend  for  their  execution  on  the  question  of  prac- 
ticability, and  must  vary  with  the  circumstances  of  the  hour.  I 
shall  be  but  little  moved  by  newspaper  paragraphs  or  telegra- 
phic despatches,  those  swift- winged  messengers  of  sensation  and 
alarm.  I  think  we  should  act  coolly  and  calmly,  and  only  upon 
full  information  of  the  facts,  on  which  our  action  is  to  be  predi- 
cated. 

We  are  to  be  alarmed  by  the  declaration  of  the  President  that 
it  is  his  duty  to  hold,  possess  and  occupy  the  forts.  That  means 
war,  it  is  said. 

Why,  Mr.  President,  I  think  that  we  ought  to  judge  of  every 
one  by  rules  of  common  sense  and  by  the  rules  of  human  expe- 
rience, by  the  same  modes  of  consideration  that  we  judge  of  our- 
selves. Why  should  we  construe  this  into  the  announcement 
of  a  purpose  to  re-take  forts  which  have  been  captured  -fey  the 
seceded  States,  or  any  of  them,  and  are  now  in  their  possession? 
In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  cause  for  re- taking  them.  They  are 
not  needed  for  purposes  of  national  defence  at  all,  because  they 
are  in  States  that  have  seceded.  There  is,  therefore,  no  neces- 
sity for  retaking  them.  There  is  no  motive  to  impel  the  admin- 
istration to  resort  to  force  which  will  bring  on  a  conflict  between 
those  seceded  States  and  the  General  Government.  Then, 
again,  he  has  no  means  of  re-taking  them  even  if  he  desired. 
He  can  only  re-take  them  by  a  force  which  he  has  not  the  power 
to  raise.  He  has  only  the  little  standing  army  belonging  to  the 
country,  that  is  scattered  over  your  entire  frontier,  West  and 
South-west,  and  utterly  incapable  of  taking  these  fortified  places 
or  any  of  them  out  of  the  hands  of  the  seceded  States. 

Well,  now,  as  to  the  collection  of  the  revenue.  I  am  not 
aware  of  die  existence  of  any  law  whatever  that  authorizes  the 
collection  of  the  revenue  for  the  purposes  of  the  Government 
anywhere,  except   at  the   custom-house,  and   in   the    ports   of 


25 

entry.  We  all  know  that  in  General  Jackson's  time  it  was 
found  necessary  to  enact  a  law  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  this 
power.  We  know  that  that  law  by  its  own  terms  expired  in 
two  years  after  the  period  of  its  enactment.  We  know  that 
during  the  session  of  this  last  Congress  there  was  a  bill  pending 
to  confer  that  power  in  the  present  instance.  We  know  it  did 
not  pass,  and  there  was  no  progress  made  towards  its  enactment 
after  the  arrival  of  the  new  President  in  Washington.  We 
know  farther,  that  Mr.  Buchanan  some  time  ago  nominated  a 
gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  to  act  as  collector  of  customs  at 
Charleston,  and  that  that  nomination  was  never  acted  upon  by 
the  Senate.  I  am  then,  Mr.  President,  warranted  in  saying 
that  there  is  no  legal  instrumentality, at  this  time,  which  enables 
the  Government  to  collect  revenue,  except  the  law  of  Congress 
authorizing  its  collection  at  the  custom-houses  in  the  ports  of 
entry. 

The  idea  of  collecting  it  outside  the  harbor  and  in  an  armed 
ship,  even  if  that  were  an  authorized  lawful  mode  of  collection, 
I  am  convinced  would  be — especially  when  connected  with  our 
warehousing  system — utterly  deficient  and  impracticable.  You 
are  aware,  Sir.  President,  that  under  the  present  warehousing 
system,  goods  can  remain  three  years  without  requiring  the 
duty  to  be  paid  upon  them,  unless  they  be  withdrawn.  Where 
is  the  power  to  blockade  the  port?  Why,  the  power  to  blockade 
is  the  power  to  declare  war,  and  the  President  is  not  vested  with 
the  power  to  declare  war.  Hence,  I  say,  Mr.  Lincoln  has  not 
the  ability,  if  he  had  the  inclination,  to  constrain  the  collection 
of  revenue,  without  further  legislation  by  Congress. 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  right  of  seces- 
sion, about  which  we  all  have  opinions  of  our  own.  I  will  not 
go  into  that  argument  now;  it  is  not  necessary,  it  is  not  op- 
portune. I  think  that,  in  whatever  aspect  that  right  may  be  re- 
garded, we  are  bound  to  accept  secession  as  an  existing  fact. 
Seven  States  have  declared  themselves  out  of  this  Union — have 
formed  a  new  confederacy,  and  are  now  performing  the  func- 
tions of  an  independent  government.  Now,  sir,  I  should  say  it 
is  a  narrow,  unphilosophical  statesmanship  that  would  regard 
the  movement  of. those  Southern  States,  acting  as  organized 
commonwealths,  and  by  conventional  decrees  and  ordinances, 
in  the  light  of  partial  insurrectionary  movements  in  opposition  to 
State  authority.  Who  would  compare  the  secession  of  entire 
States  by  conventional  authority,  with  such  a  movement  as  the 
Whisky  Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania,  or  Shay's  Rebellion  in 
Massachusetts? 

We  are  living  in  a  new  era.  What  has  happened  is  entirely 
unprecedented.  We  have  no  example  for  it  in  the  history  of 
the  world.     It  is  a  thing  the  founders  of  our  Government  never 


26 

anticipated.  They  made  no  provision  for  a  dissolution  or  de- 
struction of  the  Government.  It  has  come  upon  us  and  we 
must  meet  the  event  as  best  we  may. 

And  what  is  that  best  ?  I  say,  Mr.  President,  just  to  let  them 
alone.  I  would  use  no  force.  Force  now  is  civil  war,  and  with 
civil  war,  the  bonds  of  our  Union  can  never  be  renewed.  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  the  news  of  this  morning  leaves  no  reasonable 
ground  of  doubt  that  a  pacific  policy  has  been  wisely  determined 
on  at  Washington,  and  that  the  troops  in  Fort  Sumter  are  now 
or  will  soon  be  withdrawn.  These  States  must  be  left  to  time, 
to  their  experiment,  to  negotiation,  to  entreaty,  to  sisterly  kind- 
ness. That  is  my  mode  of  treatment.  Under  its  operation  all 
may  be  well.  The  old  affection  will  return — the  memories  of 
the  past  will  incline  us  to  each  other — our  joint  struggles  and 
joint  triumphs,  the  hopes  which  clustered  about  our  great  expe- 
riment of  free  government  and  enlightened  civilization,  and 
which  cannot  be  abandoned,  and  yet,  more  than  all,  a  sense  of 
common  interest  and  common  safety,  will  bring  us  together 
again,  and  our  Union  be  more  strongly  cemented  than  ever. 

Virginia  is  master  of  her  own  position  and  of  her  own  move- 
ment. She  need  fear  no  force  around  or  about  her.  She  is 
capable  of  taking  care  of  herself,  and  of  taking  care,  by  her 
voice  and  her  declarations,  of  the  interests  of  her  sister  States 
to  a  very  large  degree. 

What  then  is  her  duty?  Is  she  to  plunge  into  an  unknown 
future?  Is  she  to  rush  into  the  arms  of  a  Southern  Confede- 
racy, the  structure  of  whose  government  she  has  not  aided  to 
erect,  to  take  refuge  in  an  edifice  reared  by  other  hands,  and 
none  of  whose  apartments  may  suit  either  her  necessities  or  her 
convenience?  Is  she  to  hasten  to  a  feast,  where  she  may  be, 
perchance,  an  unwelcome  guest;  a  guest  only  and  not  an  original 
member  of  the  family?  Is  she  to  go  without  knowing  the  de- 
sire of  any  one  of  the  States  bordering  upon  us,  or  whether 
they  will  accompany  us?  Is  she  to  go  in  contravention  of  the 
express  will  of  the  great  body  of  her  own  people?  Are  Ave  to 
do  this  on  the  ground  that  we  are  afraid  to  stay  in  the  Union 
longer?  Are  we  to  be  whipped  out  of  it  by  fear?  Are  we  to 
become  submission  is  ts  to  the  apprehensions,  or  to  the  ambition 
of  politicians? 

Mr.  President,  let  us  erect  ourselves  to  a  higher,  posture.  It 
delights  me  to  gaze  upon  the  lineaments  of  this  noble  old  Com- 
monwealth, impressed  upon  her  in  her  early  youth  time,  and 
never  hitherto  effaced.  Grand,  noble,  deliberate,  just,  calm, 
wise — all  these  attributes  she  spreads  out  before  us — she  is  now 
asked  to  break  away  from  this  sisterhood  of  States  ;  to  abandon 
all  hope  of  ever  re-constructing  our  once  glorious  Union,  and  to 
carry  away  with  her  the  household  gods  of  the  nation — to  depart 


27 

with  the  remains  of  Washington  in  her  soil,  with  Jefferson,  and 
Henry,  and  Mason,  and  Madison,  and  that  long  line  of  illustri- 
ous sons  who  aided  in  laying  the  foundations  of  this  Common- 
wealth, deep  and  abiding  in  the  principles  of  law  and  order.  She 
is  asked  to  carry  these  away  and  to  make  them  to  the  larger  por- 
tion of  this  nation,  foreign  relies,  to  be  visited  and  gazed  on, 
perhaps,  in  after  years,  only  at  the  price  of  some  new  crusade, 
waged  in  vindication  of  the  right  to  look  upon  the  shrine,  not  of 
him  who  shed  his  blood  for  the  common  salvation,  but  to  visit 
the  tomb  of  him  who  was  the  leader  and  conductor  of  his  peo- 
ple in  their  great  struggle  which  led  them  to  a  joint  inheritance 
of  independence  and  freedom. 

No,  Mr.  President.  No!  no!  The  duty  of  Virginia  lies  in 
another  direction.  It  is  her's  to  be  faithful  when  all  others  shall 
prove  faithless;  it  is  her  duty,  when  all  others  shall  forget  duty, 
to  stand  by  it  to  the  last,  and  only  to  give  up  its  performance 
when  that  performance  shall  become  impossible.  It  is  her's, 
Mr.  President,  not  to  fly  from,  but  to  stand  by  these  monu- 
ments of  her  glory — the  Constitution  and  the  Union — con- 
structed by  herself  more  than  by  all  others.  If  these  monu- 
ments need  repair,  if  they  need  retouching  even,  in  their  in- 
scriptions, who  has  so  much  right  as  Virginia  to  lead  the 
way  in  this  remodelling  and  amendment?  Let  her  call  around 
her  these  sister  States.  I  see  that  it  is  contemplated  in  the  report 
of  your  committee  to  call  a  Conference  at  Frankfort.  Let  Vir- 
ginia call  to  this  Conference  all  the  slave  States  remaining  in  the 
Union.  Let  her  there  consult,  devise,  express  her  own  opinion, 
consult  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  others — her  daughters  and 
her  sisters — she  Aviil  go  there  their  equal  and  no  more — not  to 
dictate,  but  to  commune.  She  will  have  her  full  share  of  influ- 
ence— she  should  ask  no  more.  As  the  elder  sister  of  the  Re- 
public, with  all  her  ancient  glory,  her  honor  and  her  services 
clustering  around  her,  and  which  cannot  be  stripped  from  her, 
she  invites  her  associates  into  council.  Her  past  is  safe;  let  not 
the  error  of  the  future  dim  the  lustre  of  her  former  greatness. 
The  brave  and  powerful  man  is  always  a  generous  man.  The 
position  of  Virginia  is  power — her  voice  when  uttered,  is  deci- 
sive. She  will  not  exert  that  power  or  speak  the  word  to  carry 
her  out  of  the  Union  and  involve  the  fate  of  her  sisters.  She 
will  consult  those  sisters  on  every  point  of  common  interest,  and 
on  every  scheme  of  common  deliverance. 

Let  her  go  there.  Let  her  say  that  this  adjustment  is  satisfac- 
tory to  her.  Let  her  present  it  as  her  contribution  to  that  con- 
sultation, subject  to  approval  in  whole,  or  to  modification. 

The  F  rank  fort  Conference  will,  upon  full  consultation,  agree 
upon  the  guarantees  which  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  slave 
States  now  remaining  in  the  Union,  and  will  devise  the  plan  of 


28 

bringing  them  to  the  consideration  of  the  other  States.  Let  an 
appeal  be  made,  not  to  the  politicians,  but  to  the  people  of  the 
nation.  What  shall  be  agreed  on  there,  will  be  accepted  by  the 
whole  nation. 

And  what  further  is  the  duty  of  this  Convention  ?  There  is 
at  this  moment,  Mr.  President,  a  most  oppressive,  benumbing 
weight  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  your  con- 
stituents and  my  constituents,  and  all  the  people  of  this  Com- 
monwealth. The  great  interests  of  this  State  are  paralyzed. 
Capital  seeks  to  hide  itself  from  the  passing  storm.  Labor  goes 
unemployed.  Property  is  depreciated.  Everything  is  at  a 
stand-still.  Why?  Because  of  the  uncertainty  and  dread  of 
what  is  to  come.  This  state  of  things  ought  not  to  continue. 
We  ought  to  act,  and  act  promptly,  for  the  removal  of  the  public 
anxiety.  We  ought,  in  the  first  place,  to  command  peace  on  all 
sides.  Then  let  us  agree  upon  such  plan  of  guarantees  as  will 
be  satisfactory  to  Virginia.  Call  this  border  slave  State  Con- 
ference at  Frankfort,  or  elsewhere,  to  deliberate  upon  it,  and 
ascertain  whether  it  is  satisfactory  to  them,  and  adjourn  over  for 
that  consultation.  What  more  can  you  do  ?  What  more  ought 
you  to  do  ?  I  would  have  you  do  a  little  more  than  that.  I 
would  have  you  to  say  by  your  action  that  all  is  not  lost.  I 
would  have  you,  by  your  action,  remove  this  fear  and  trepida- 
tion from  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  people.  Say  to  them  dis- 
tinctly that  the  State  is  not  to  be  precipitated;  that  she  is  doing 
her  duty  under  the  Constitution  which  our  fathers  made;  that 
she  is  in  the  Union  which  they  constructed,  and  expects  to  re- 
main there.  1  would  have  this  Convention  so  act  as  to  send 
the  husbandman  forth  merrily  to  his  fields  again,  and  bid  him 
look  forward  with  hope  to  a  jocund  harvest;  renew  the  music  of 
the  hammer  and  the  plane  in  your  workshops,  and  start  afresh 
the  merchant  and  the  man  of  commerce.  I  would  unloose 
business  and  enterprise  now  locked  up;  locked  up  because  of 
some  unknown  but  anticipated  danger.  Shall  we  continue  this 
state  of  things?  No,  Mr.  President!  Remove  it.  Say  to  the 
people  in  the  city  and  in  the  country  that  Virginia  knows  her 
duty  and  will  perform  it;  that  she  will  perform  it  in  her  own 
time  and  in  her  own  way.  She  is  neither  to  be  forced  by  out- 
side or  inside  pressure  to  do  wrong.  If  she  is  ever  to  leave  this 
Union,  she  will  leave  it  with  no  stain  upon  her  justice,  and  with 
no  remorse  for  duty  unperformed.  But  she  will  not  leave  it. 
Let  that  announcement  go  forth,  and,  my  word  for  it,  that,  like 
the  wand  which  struck  the  rock  in  the  wilderness,  the  waters  of 
joy  will  gush  forth  throughout  this  Commonwealth.  Business 
will  revive;  agriculture,  commerce  and  manufactures  will  re- 
vive. Make  it  known  that  you  intend  to  keep  the  peace  and 
restore  the  Union — and  that  you  are  taking  your  own  time  and 


29 

your  own  mode  to  accomplish  it.  Do  it,  Mr.  President,  and 
send  a  thrill  of  gladness  throughout  this  State  and  over  this 
broad  land  to  animate  every  heart.  Let  it  be  known  that  how- 
ever dark  and  lowering  have  been  the  clouds  upon  us,  that  they 
are  breaking  away,  and  that  soon  the  bow  of  promise  and  peace 
will  span  the  whole  heavens  again. 


^sis^g 


